Aloo Gosht is one of those dishes you can never go wrong by serving. One of those dishes everyone happens to love. One of those dishes that just spells out C O M F O R T.
If you’d ask me to name one dish to represent my childhood, well, this and a hot plate of daal chawal would have a tough time competing!
What is it about this delicious meal that even the picky kids love have no problems finishing plate after plate? Is it the beautifully rich and deeply flavoured broth? The tender chunks of lamb? The soft, floury potatoes?
There are many different versions to this traditional recipe – my Mother has a complete different recipe to me and I have seen a number of recipes vastly different to mine! Some of my Aunts use yogurt in their masala, but most use tomatoes. Some people keep the shorba (soup) thick, like pasta sauce, or very watery – some don’t have any shorba at all, cooking it like a bhuna curry.
What is striking about Aloo Gosht however, is that no matter how the process goes down, as long as the spices are adjusted to be juuuuust right (but then, there’s always spice variations in each kitchen!), it’s always the epitome of comfort food. There’s just something about it.
The ultimate Aloo Gosht consistency
I’m extremely sentimental about the shorba in Aloo Gosht (and most shorba curries, actually). It needs to be absolutely perfect – no big chunks of onion floating around, no thick and gloopy shorba, none of that flavourless soup that looks like boiled water. Nope, I’m not having any of it! (Psssst! I have lots of shorba tips on my Aloo Anday post)
My Mother taught me shorba curries need to look a certain way – they should be a shade of brown and slightly red in colour, the oil floating to the top and separating around the edges, with a distinguished yellowish orange rim.
Fear not – the oil floating to the top doesn’t mean this curry is drenched in oil; it just means that the curry was cooked for long enough for the oil to separate from the water of the curry, something that is very important in South Asian cooking. If the oil hadn’t risen to the top of the curry, my Mother would declare the curry a fail without even tasting it.
The two methods of cooking Aloo Gosht
I’m editing this recipe 5 years on to include another method of cooking Aloo Gosht which I’m using more often. It’s quicker and requires less constant stirring as was used in the initial recipe.
Method 1, the initial method, requires a slow simmer for 2-2.5 hours with the heat barely passing the medium-mark for more then ten minutes throughout the entire recipe – about 45 minutes slowly simmering the masala, then again simmering for an hour with the meat, then again with the potatoes till they are tender, approximately half an hour.
Method 2, the new method which I use more often now, requires you to put most of your ingredients in a pot with a some water, then allow it to simmer on low for an hour, before you add in the oil and saute (bhoon) it before adding the potatoes in. This method saves time (about 30 minutes in total) and effort.
I’ve kept Method 1 up for those who prefer this recipe and have been using it over the last 5 years, despite now being more inclined to use Method 2 myself.
Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with your carbohydrate of choice for the ultimate Pakistani comfort food experience. I love my Aloo Gosht with plain white basmati rice, but my husband isn’t fussed and will have it with anything!
Enjoy, with love x
EDITED: 30/03/2020 to include updated method and images. Recipe is still the same! 🙂
Aloo Gosht - Pakistani Meat and Potato Curry
Comfort food at its finest. A family favourite worthy of both a quiet night in and for guests at a dinner party. Serve with chapattis or basmati rice (my favourite is rice!)
Ingredients
- 0.5 cup oil
- 1 large onion, chopped finely
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 inch ginger, minced
- 2 small tomatoes. chopped roughly
- 500 grams lamb, bone in
- 300 grams potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
- 1 tsp salt, or to taste
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 0.5 tsp turmeric
- fresh coriander, for garnish
Instructions
- Chop and soak the potatoes in a bowl of water. The soaking will help remove some of the starches from the potato and prevent the shorba becoming gloopy the next day.
- Heat oil in a pot. Add in onions, garlic and ginger and fry on medium-low, stirring occasionally till golden brown. This will take about 15 minutes
- Add in the chopped tomatoes, 3/4 cup of water and all the spices. Bring to a boil and then cover and cook on low for about half an hour, till the water has reduced significantly Once or twice, uncover and stir the mixture vigorously, mashing the tomatoes and onions. To save time, add in only the tomatoes and fry for a few minutes, then you can blend the onions and tomatoes without adding any water, then cook the moisture out.
- Once most of the water has dried up, uncover and turn the heat up to high and begin to mash the mixture vigorously till the mixture seems to come together in a dry clump and the oil begins to seperate from the sides.
- Add in the lamb. Allow the lamb to brown in the mixture, stirring to avoid burning, about 5 minutes.
- Once the lamb has turned a light brown shade and no more pink colouring remains, add in 4 cups of boiling water. Bring to a boil and then lower to the lowest heat and cover.
- After approximately 1hour, remove the potatoes from their water and add to the lamb. Continue to cook until the potatoes have cooked, about half an hour.
- Garnish with chopped fresh coriander (optional)
Notes
If at step 4, you find that there are still chunks of onions and tomatoes left, you can transfer the mixture to a food processor and pulse till 90% smooth. Also, if you're short on time feel free to blend the tomato and onion mixture after 10 minutes as opposed to waiting for 30 minutes of simmering.
Aloo Gosht (Method 2) - Pakistani Meat and Potato Curry
Comfort food at its finest. A family favourite worthy of both a quiet night in and for guests at a dinner party. Serve with chapattis or basmati rice (my favourite is rice!)
Ingredients
- 0.5 cup oil
- 1 large onion, chopped finely
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 inch ginger, minced
- 2 small tomatoes. chopped roughly
- 500 grams lamb, bone in
- 300 grams potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
- 1 tsp salt, or to taste
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 0.5 tsp turmeric
- fresh coriander, for garnish
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients aside from the oil, potatoes and coriander into a deep pot. Add one cup of water, bring to a boil, and then simmer on low for an hour
- Once the hour is up, add the oil and begin to saute the curry well, stirring constantly. This is the most important part of this method, so the longer you saute the better. This helps sear the meat, roast the spices, help the oil seperate and also breaks down the masala better. This will take ten minutes maximum
- Add the potatoes and about 1-1.5 cups water. Bring to a boil, then simmer again for between 20-30 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked
- If you want less broth/shorba at this point, cook the moisture out on high till it is your desired consistency. Similarly, if you want more, add some additional water and bring it to a boil
- Garnish with coriander
Richa Asthana
Thursday 27th of April 2023
Hi Fatima Aapa, I love your recipes and am going to try the aloo gosht tomorrow for a dinner for friends. My dad, a great cook, used to make meat like your 2nd recipe sometimes and he called it 'ulta meat' 😀
Shoaib Chaudhry
Tuesday 4th of April 2023
Will this receipe also work for beef? Are there any modifications I need to do to cater it to make beef aloo gosht?
David Daly
Tuesday 29th of November 2022
Hi Fatima. I am a massive fan of Pakistani meat curries and have been so since 1968 when at University in Bradford. I lived just across the road from the Kash', which as you know is the greatest curry house in the UK!:) My daughter's neighbours are from Pakistan and we enjoy their great vegetarian recipes. So I spend a lot of time searching for new recipes. Today I found your site and just about everything on it is to my taste. I really like reading your introductions, which I usually skip on other websites. Tomorrow I shall be making lamb keema samosas. Your shorba recipe is identical to one that our friend Naheed gave us many years ago except her's has more tomatoes and is 'blitzed'. I shall try your long method recipe soon.
Kind regards, Dave.
Fatima
Tuesday 7th of March 2023
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment, Dave! I hope you enjoy my recipes. Would love to hear how you get on!
Aleena
Wednesday 17th of August 2022
AOA! So excited to find this and read all the reviews. I've been really homesick for good lahori good latelyðŸ˜
Only question is, is there a different meat I can substitute?
Hafsa
Tuesday 16th of August 2022
Hi! I’m new to cooking… what kind of lamb cuts should I ask for at the butcher?